This blog is about exploring ways to capture simple moments of deep spiritual and physical reality in literary form. I move around the globe and see searing pain alongside bright and precious nuggets of beauty. My days are spent trying to make a difference through projects and goals and indicators, but the rest of the time there's a good chance I'm writing in an attempt to capture the heart of the people I meet.

Monday, June 7, 2010

the guest house conundrum

I'm living in a guest house right now. I love the guest house for a few different reasons. First and foremost, it's right across the street from our office. And since we're not allowed to go anywhere alone and are generally required to be in a vehicle, the ability to go to the office whenever I please is a luxury indeed. In addition, the guest house has two full-time cleaners who make my bed and make sure there's enough TP in the bathroom and make me coffee in the morning. My room is airy and spacious, and I have both aircon and a fan! In this resource-tight post-earthquake place, I feel like I'm hogging all the luxuries

I also love my housemates. The three who actually live here with me, that is.

My other housemates, I'm not so thrilled about. These are the office staff who come in to our kitchen whenever they're in the mood and help themselves to the coffee. They might also help themselves to our food if they're feeling peckish. They start arriving at 6 a.m. and may bop by anytime in the day. Sometimes they come watch TV in our living room as they eat lunch. That lunch may or may not have been cooked using our food.

The housemates-in-residence and I have have discussed this phenomenon for hours on end. We can't make heads or tails of it. Does the staff believe this is a communal house? Is it a communal house? It'd be nice if someone would have informed me before I had the audacity to get my morning coffee still wearing my pyjamas! That's not the image I want to convey to my staff, much less to our director of management quality.

Today, I learned that this may be a staged act of rebellion from the old-timer staff against the influx of snobby and insensitive internationals who have shipped in from around the world in the months following the earthquake. Who are we to get the best guest house in town and keep it all for ourselves?! So they are trying to slowly push us out, using a bit of passive aggressive intimidation in the form of guest house invasion. Oh bother!

There's a third category of housemates, which I like even less. Oh, I despise the third group and would kill them all if I could. Yup, we have mice.

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Dreams in the Medina

a summary of my book, Dreams in the Medina, from www.wordle.net

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